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What does the media and the general public tend to get wrong about the Latina electorate?
Chabeli: So much of what the media gets wrong is in the nuance — how your country of origin, time in the United States and where you reside shape your outlook and experience. Often, the media and the general public aren’t thinking about women in the Latinx community at all, but rather they’re concentrating on the community as a whole. Data on Latina voting patterns is exceedingly difficult to come by, a microcosm of the limited attention and understanding we have of this group.
Barbara: Latinas are not a monolithic group of voters. Their motivations for voting — or not voting — vary. Their motivations for backing Democrats, Republicans or another party affiliation also vary. One thing I’ve noticed in this post-election world is how some members of the press have framed perplexing questions about understanding Latinas’ voting behaviors without acknowledging this straightforward reality.
Based on the preliminary data on how the Latina electorate voted in the 2020 election, what are your takeaways on how this group may vote in future elections?
Chabeli: We have known for some time that Latinas tend to vote Democratic in much larger numbers than Latinos. That shows no signs of changing. The changes are happening in pockets. In South Florida, Cuban Americans increased their support for President Donald Trump over 2016. The same happened in large numbers in South Texas. But in Arizona, Latinas helped deliver the state for Biden.
Barbara: Since Latinas are not monolithic, they will respond to the messaging that resonates with their beliefs. Those beliefs depend in part on factors like where they live in the United States and their country of origin. A Latina in Nevada, of Mexican descent, may have a strong reaction to policy proposals around the economy because maybe they’re among the Latina women who have faced detrimental job losses in the pandemic. A Latina in Florida, of Cuban descent, may resonate with rhetoric against “socialism” that prompts comparisons to policies in their country of origin or their family’s country of origin. My takeaway is that political parties and organizers will have a lot of work to do — both before and in election years — to solidify the support of either one of these women.
What can newsrooms do to more accurately report on the wide-ranging experiences and political beliefs that are encompassed within the Latina electorate? Similarly, what do you try and do as a reporter to make sure you’re covering this group fairly and accurately?
Chabeli: Newsrooms can start by first hiring more people of color to their staff. So much of what I know to pursue and look for when I’m writing about Latinas is informed by my own personal experiences growing up in that community. I can see the throughlines because I’ve lived them or know people who have. But I don’t know every Latina experience, so I try to read as much as I can about people who do know that experience intimately to help build a frame of reference.
Barbara: Newsrooms can promote Latinas and other people of color into some of the management positions that help make coverage decisions around underrepresented communities. That said, there is no magical box that a newsroom can check. The work to make a newsroom more inclusive is constant work. And it extends to the individual reporter. Personally, I try to do a gut check on my implicit bias as a human. That means reading a lot about other people’s lives, and expanding my network of sources to be as inclusive as possible.
You’re Latina. How would you say this shapes your reporting of the Latina electorate and communities in general?
Chabeli: Understanding the cultural intricacies of being a Latina in the United States, as informed by my upbringing and the Latinx community I grew up in, positions me to look for the nuance. What politicians fail to learn every election cycle is that the Latinx community is just as complex as any other community, but few have taken the time to understand it. You have to listen, and that’s how I approach every community that’s different from mine — by listening closely to all the complexities and fighting the tendency to paint people in broad strokes.
Barbara: Given that the lives of people who are Latinx are so different, my experience as a Latina is just that — my experience. I go into every reporting assignment with an open mind, which has been shaped by my upbringing among communities of immigrants from all around Latin America. I go into my work, especially on stories around identity, ethnicity and culture, with hopefully a deep level of empathy.
Election year will soon be behind us. How do you plan to continue to elevate the voices of Latinas in 2021? What can our readers expect?
Chabeli: Latinas are still struggling with unemployment in huge numbers. They’ve elected a president who has made promises on immigration — promises many of his predecessors failed to deliver on. Our readers can expect that we’ll be keeping an eye on how the issues that Latinas care most about — their economic stability, their health, their family and immigration — unfold in the coming year and affect them directly.
Barbara: How will Latinas’ lives be changed — good or bad — by a new White House administration? How will decisions on the state level, particularly in statehouses, impact their ability to work, to access health care and to care for their families? These are the questions that linger for me.
What’s your advice for up and coming Latina journalists?
Chabeli: Errin Haines told me this when I interviewed at The 19th and I’m going to steal it from her from now on: What makes you different is your superpower. Use your lived experiences to write stories that are poignant and uncover a truth that you are uniquely positioned to uncover thanks to the background you bring to this work.
Barbara: There is a whole community of Latina journalists who are rooting for your professional success in this industry, and I wish I had realized that immediately as a young reporter. Seek their guidance (I highly recommend the Latinas in Journalism Mentorship Program, which is free!). Build those relationships now for the long haul; it leads to friendships and collaborations that truly make the world go round.
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